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The purpose of this study is to examine the differences of profitability based on the analysis of business and medical service performances of four hospitals in Incheon area with similar size. and to compare hospitals with the best and the worst performances and analyze the factors behind the differences. The differences could be caused by differences in medical service statistics, number of staff, and financial results, etc. The data was acquired through the homepage of the National Tax Service(financial statements for the fiscal year 2009) and the Medical Record Association of Incheon(medical service statistics for the years 2008 and 2009) along with questionnaire survey to the hospitals(personnel data for the year 2009). The results of the study are as follows. Medical profits to medical revenues ratio for the hospitals(referred as Hospital A, B, C, and D) shows, in order, C(8.2%), A(8.0%), B(7.8%), and D(7.4%). However, net income to medical revenues ratio shows otherwise: C(8.5%), D(5.8%), A(3.0%), and B(0.6%). Hospital B shows a high medical profit to revenue ratio but the lowest net income to revenue ratio due to large interest expenses. The leverage ratio of Hospital B is the highest (419.6%), resulting in a very low interest coverage ratio(1.1). On the other hand, Hospital C shows favorable results in both profit ratios, with 8.2% and 8.5% each. Hospital C has the lowest leverage ratio(53.0%) and the highest interest coverage ratio(34.9). Therefore, the results show Hospital C has the best performance while Hospital B the worst. The two hospitals(B and C) show similar results in certain areas and big differences in other areas. The area that has the biggest influence on financial results turns out leverage ratio. Hospital B shows ’very good’ to ’good’ results in terms of medical service statistics in general. However, the leverage ratio is too high and the liquidity ratio too low, resulting in a very low profit ratio. The results of this study have some limitations in terms of generalization as only four hospitals in Incheon area were selected for the study, resulting in a deficiency in the representativeness of the sample. Further studies with bigger sample size and deeper analysis are expected in this area.
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